VSP 105

“What is wrong with these guys.” Sejun shook his head.

“I can handle it.”

Probably. Sejun’s gaze lingered briefly on the ring on his finger.

“I know. But just in case, if anything happens, call me immediately.”

Choi Hangeol spoke with a serious expression. His voice devoid of any playfulness.

Sejun nodded. There was no need to refuse that.

Once the strategy meeting that did not feel like a strategy meeting ended, they needed to decide where each of them would go.

The department store had 13 floors above ground and 6 floors underground. If each person covered around six floors, they could check the entire building.

“From the 1st floor to the 6th floor, from the 7th to the 13th, and the underground parking lot. That seems fair. Do either of you want a specific area?”

Hangeol asked.

Of course, all areas were the same, so there was no real preference. Yet the two hunters looked at Sejun, seemingly giving him the right to choose. With no reason to drag it out, Sejun decided first.

“I will take the parking lot.”

And that was how the day’s fate was decided.

•••

]An S-rank dungeon has appeared in Taeseong Department Store…government declares emergency]

[Urban disaster, S-rank dungeon confirmed at Taeseong Department Store]

[Worst case scenario..evacuation order issued as S rank dungeon opens in city center]

[Disaster in broad daylight, is the Association free of blame?]

After the Taeseong Department Store incident erupted, most news outlets broadcast the catastrophe in real time.

Online news was overwhelmed too. No matter what algorithm a Korean user had, YouTube’s main page showed live news streams.

Tens of thousands watched the live broadcasts of the three major TV stations even though it was a weekday afternoon. Naturally, the comments and chat exploded.

-Five thousand people trapped, this is insane

-Where are all the national pride guys who praised our dungeon response?

-They said detection didn’t work

-Are they using that as an excuse to avoid responsibility?

-Seriously, Ryu Sehyun is not even at the scene.

-What is Ryu Sehyun doing?

-Why are the S ranks not entering immediately?

-Foreigners are laughing at us, we already lost the golden hour.

-National embarrassment

-The association blocked all nearby roads, traffic is hell, unbelievable.

Because the news titles were provocative and the situation chaotic, online spaces quickly filled with doubt and anger toward the Association.

Neutral opinions disappeared under the wave of negativity, and only harsh accusations remained.

Then news broke that three S-rank hunters had entered. In an instant, all attention shifted.

-Choi Hangeol, Lee Dohun… Seo… Sejun?

-I want to unsee this

-Seo Sejun…?

When Sejun’s name appeared, the response was predictably bad.

-Why is it him of all people?

-Leave him alone, he did well in Busan

-Oh the meat shield

-Stop exaggerating because he did one tearful tanking show in Busan

-What can Seo Sejun even do?

-Forget Sejun, where is Cha Dogyeong?

– Hunter Cha where are you?

-What is the point of being the only country with an EX-rank if he is never available?

-He is raiding another dungeon

-Then he should have taken a communication link with him, what if something happens?

-I knew he was acting like a celebrity after that amusement park date nonsense.

-Does an EX-rank need to be on emergency standby forever?

-He gets paid for it.

-Do you pay him?

-Stop fighting in the thread

-Why are you so angry?

-Where is Choi Yerin why is she not here? Why isn’t she here? Why isn’t she here?

Dozens of voices, angry, defensive, mocking, irrelevant. The internet was a complete mess, chaotic enough to feel like a disaster of its own.

-There is a body cam livestream on the news channel right now

And that disaster had barely begun. A new one appeared the moment the three S-rank hunters entered the dungeon. People did not believe it right away.

-Clickbait

-Lies

-I went there and some hunter naked video popped up

-I clicked it and got ransomware

-I clicked it and my bank account got drained, be careful

-What even is that no name news channel?

Most people dismissed it as fake news without even checking, but it didn’t take long before the ones who actually checked it began posting what they saw.

-That channel is real, it is an actual live body cam

-For real?

-?

-????

-What is even happening?

The live feed that appeared on a cable news channel called OO News became known instantly.

It was a real time broadcast showing the body cam footage of the three hunters who had entered Taeseong Department Store, which had turned into an S-rank dungeon.

Since it was the biggest incident in the country, rumors spread everywhere. The viewer count, small at first, swelled like a snowball. The chat window filled so fast in every language imaginable that it was impossible to read.

-This lag is crazy

-They are really going all in, look at this, they split the screen into three to show all of them at once

-I did not know which one you would like, so I brought all three

-This is amazing for me anyway

-Association, did you sell this again?

-How far does the Association’s corruption go?

-That director again?

-If you mean the director who sold the footage last time, he got fired right after that

-The punishment is light and the videos sell for a lot so of course they keep leaking

-There are literally no laws regulating this

-The Association is like a convenience store, body cams leaking, a dungeon opening in their front yard

-The tree that keeps giving

-They failed to detect the dungeon and caused civilian casualties, what is Ryu Sehyun even doing?

-At least let them broadcast the footage

-And they still manage to leak even that

-Seriously what is Ryu Sehyun doing?

-This is not a natural disaster, this is man-made

-I cannot live like this, should I move to another country?

-Surprisingly, other countries are worse

By that time, even the Association, overwhelmed with the ongoing situation, noticed the video. But since the broadcast was capturing the body cam signal, they could not cut the stream while the hunters were inside. If they did, the monitoring feed inside the association would be lost too.

Son Wontae, suffering from stress so intense his stomach started hurting, politely asked OO News to stop the broadcast. Naturally, the broadcast did not stop.

The footage even spread to major TV networks, and the number of viewers continued rising.

The only small mercy was that although the upgraded body cams had far better video quality, they did not transmit audio.

-The world has gotten nice, now you can lie in bed and watch a live dungeon raid

-This is boring for an S-rank dungeon

-I covered the screen with my hand because I thought something scary would pop up

-The lighting is so bright…

-It looks like a department store vlog

-Like a “before opening” employee vlog

Even though thousands of civilians were involved in a massive disaster, no one knew what had happened to the victims yet, and the early footage looked too peaceful. People felt no real danger and continued chatting casually.

It was an ordinary department store interior, familiar, brightly lit, and peaceful. If not for the absence of people, no one would believe it was inside a dungeon.

But the calm began to crack once the hunters split up and Sejun stepped into the third basement floor.

-Seo Sejun’s screen, what is that thing?

The peaceful department store vlog was seconds away from turning into the beginning of a bloodbath, but at that moment, no one realized the danger.

•••

At that time, Sejun had no idea what was happening outside. He began checking the underground floors he had been assigned.

The elevators and escalators worked fine, but he felt uneasy and decided to use the stairs.

The first place he headed was the food court on B1.

Everything looked exactly like a department store that had been operating normally until today. Clean counters, arranged food displays, lights still on, advertisements for new menu items.

Everything was the same as usual, except for one thing.

There were no people.

No employees, no customers.